Gardening!

My passion is gardening. I am outdoors most of any day I can, tweaking my flower beds and examining my vegetables. After reading the paper in the morning, I walk out to inspect the beds of petunias, soon to be overrun with the native dune sunflowers. But for now, this bed is a riot of colors. I have sown zinnias, nasturtiums and cosmos in their midst and I see that they are soon to produce flowers. I pull off the dead flowers and cut back the blackberries that always encroach in this bed.

The two raised flower beds my husband put in a few years ago to contain roses (the deer ate every one of them!), now have a huge variety of native plants, deer and rabbit proof. This year when I now have enough time here I can monitor what grows well. A number of strange and beautiful lobed leafed plants grew up like weeds, but I thought they were so beautiful I let them grow on, wondering what they would be. My mystery plants turned out to be native blanket flowers and they are now blooming profusely with cheerful red and yellow blossoms.

I look at all the shrubs and trees and plants that were given me by friends. Here is the citrus tree and the two red crepe myrtles given to me by Marie, here is the native shrimp plant (now gone wild and everywhere) given to me by another friend. Here is the blue porter weed that miraculously survived two freezes this year, given to me by Susie. And there is the wisteria vine Maria gave me and it is now twining along the fence. There is the blousy Japanese jasmine from my sister, now ready to bloom outside our back porch shower. Everywhere I look there are the gardening tracks of friends.

When I went out to water today there was a bright green anole on the red hose. "Wrong color!" I said to him, but he paid no attention. If you're not a gardener, you won't get this entry. I am, as they say, elderly (grandma molly). When I was in my twenties I barely knew the difference between a tulip and a daffodil. And now I have the interest to know the different types of wild sage. You never know what passions will envelop you!

Down by the grape arbor and the asparagus bed there was a place where there was a gopher tortoise burrow and we couldn't touch it. So I began to plant stuff nearby, some grasses and some wildflowers I got in the mail. One day I noticed some lovely things blooming. I watered it along with the asparagus and grapes and now it is a feast for my eyes. I don't know what any of the flowers are, nothing I have ever seen before. They are ethereal, many colors and shapes. This is a true gift to me.

The water garden with its lotus and water lettuce is looking good. The water lilies are coming along. I pause to examine the mosquito fish darting around in this very small pond, and a couple of leopard frogs jump into the water. I water the iris growing nearby and I see that there are bloom stalks ready to happen. I notice that the flapjack plants which suffered so in the winter frost are now growing well. Hummingbirds buzz by my head, as happy as I am to be here.

In front of the screen porch the crepe myrtle trees are leafing out and soon they will be a cloud of ethereal white blossoms. But for now, the cardinals and wrens own the territory with their loud and burbling calls. The hummingbirds buzz into the native shrimp plants and red sage.

This is the first year I have been able to see all this unfold. I am amazed and humbled. All year we have eaten vegetables from our garden. It is an exquisite pleasure to go out each evening and pick what's there to eat. We have salad almost year round (July and August are too hot), and there is always something else. Right now we have an excess of peas and beans, so I give them away to my neighbors, and I see that cucumbers, spinach, tomatoes and eggplant are not far behind. This was the first year that I have grown everything from seed. My grandson Quincy, helped me plant the tomato seeds in the flat and he wasn't very methodical, so the varieties are still a mystery to me. I've got to get him to help me pick the worms off the cukes!

Growing a garden is a lot of work! Every day one must examine what grows, deadhead the flowers, pick the vegetables, water, dig new planting holes, fertilize, weed, mulch, look at stuff, bend over, lift, pick off worms, walk many steps, turn over the compost pile. But, all in all, it's a kind of meditation, beautiful for the soul and mind. I feel that I am caring for the earth and for my family. What could be a better gift than a basket of fresh lovely greens from the garden?